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12 Dec 16:40

Interview with our founder, Anna Felicia on the Hyper Island blog

Last week our founder Anna Felicia was interviewed for the Hyper Island blog about Unicornia Collective.

" The idea came to me while I was on leave of absence from my job at the digital studio, studying web development. I started to play with the thought of freelancing, so in order to build my network I started going to meet-ups for women in tech. I realised there were a lot of recruiters there, looking for talent. Their clients were specifically asking for women, and I thought to myself “ Why isn’t anyone focusing on that..?” So I defined the concept and built a landing page to see it there was any interest for such a service. There was."

Vanja from Pink Programming shares her thoughts

Vanja has been a big supporter of Unicornia from the start and a huge inspiration for us. We grabbed the opportunity to ask her a few questions about Pink Programming and her thought on equality in tech.

Why is equality in tech important according to you?

Not only is it way more inspiring, educational and fun to work in a diverse team with people from different ages, gender and backgrounds, it is also the best way to ensure that the best product are being made, and that different aspects have been thought of. Also, why should only a certain type of people have access to the tech sector, which holds an amazing set of roles and opportunities?

What is Pink Programming's vision for the future?

Our long term goal is that becoming a developer should be just as natural for women as it is for men. It is not for all of course, but for people interested in coding there should be no stereotypical ideas stopping anyone from trying it out. Basically, we want to show people that programming is cool and fun 🙂

What is your biggest learning from running Pink Programming?

Hmm.. apart from the fact that women are actually interested in coding… that scaling up is hard, and that it is hard to lead a team of around 60 volunteers in different locations, that are all passionate about the subject, but do something else most of their time. Huge respect to all amazing leaders out there, leadership is hard!
Also, maybe my biggest take away.. you can accomplish so much more than you think, as long as you believe in it enough yourself and dare to follow your instincts and do it your own way. Let your passion lead the way!

Equality Focus - Eat Create Sleep

Last week a job ad from Eat Create Sleep was placed on our service. We were so impressed with the company's equality statement that we had to reach out and have a chat with Martin Greip, CEO of the company.

Here's what he had to say about the company's focus on equality:

Tell us why equality is important at Eat Create Sleep.

I will answer with a quote. In the science-fiction film Ghost in the Shell from 1995 a cop asked his cyborg superior why he's the only human on the team, and he got the reply:

"If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation. What's true for the group is also true for the individual. It's simple: Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death."

A lot of our experiences stem from things we didn't affect, such as how we were raised and how our bodies look like. It's true that we can try to go our own way as adults and make our own decisions, but there's so much behaviours we've learned without noticing it, having a diverse team makes it much easier to react differently to each situation. What isn't uncomfortable for you might be difficult for someone else. We can teach each other to be better.

Are there any activities that you have done to promote equality in the company?

We are always actively looking for more women, POC and LGBTQ+ individuals and try to tailor job ads that encourage a diverse audience. But we also try to foster a community where people are not afraid to call out problematic behaviour, and also giving the person who did wrong a chance to better themselves (depending on the severity of course, I'm talking about verbal behaviour here). Heck, I'm a non-binary person and know what it's like to be an odd duck, always been. But I've a lot of privileges in other areas (such as being white and look like a man) so it's not like I came out as a perfectly formed saint, I have my blind spots, so inclusivity is a work in progress I think. As long as we give people some leeway to grow I think we can try to foster a more inclusive environment for everyone regardless if you have a lot of privileges or not.

What else about Eat Create Sleep makes it an awesome place to work?

Our studio name stems from the idea that to be able to create great things you need time to eat and to sleep, as such we promote a healthy work-life balance which is sometimes hard to find in this industry where "crunch" is almost normalised. It's always tempting to increase workload when things such as money and deadlines loom over you, but we think shorter work days increase productivity. We also try to involve all people as much as possible in the creative vision, we have a creative director (me) but I still try to have an inclusive atmosphere where good ideas and arguments win and not how high you raise your voice.

We are happy that Martin made a choice to let us help him find talent for Eat Create Sleep!

Equality focus - Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio

We had the opportunity to have a quick chat with Elena Popescu, Talent Acquisition Manager at Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio in Malmö.

Here's what she had to say about the company's focus on equality:

Tell us why equality is important at Massive!

"At Massive, we are deeply committed to the belief that everyone should have the same rights, value and opportunities, no matter who they are or where they come from. Carrying this belief into everything we do in the studio helps us create a more diverse workplace, which in turn gives us the possibility to make better games."

Are there any activities that you have done to promote equality in the company?

"Yes! One initiative supported by Massive that aims to increase gender balance in game development is our work with the non-profit organization Pink Programming. Together, Massive and Pink Programming hosts workshops for women and non-binary people to encourage their interest in programming."

"We are also proud of our Diversity team – which is a group of individuals who work a little extra for diversity at Massive. Additionally, we make sure to educate our employees and leaders in topics like unconscious bias and inclusive language to make everyone feel welcome inside our studio."

What else about Massive makes it an awesome place to work?

"We have over 40 nationalities represented in the studio, which creates a workplace with an international vibe that is hard to come by in Sweden. At its core, our studio is driven by passion, creativity and courage, framed by our strong family values."

We at Unicornia Collective are happy to support Elena in her work of finding new talent and creating more diversity at Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio.